WORLD NEWS
R-R studies
bigger
RB.211
DERBY
An RB. 211-700 turbofan
producing 65,0001b thrust or
more is being studied by
Rolls-Royce.
The engine is a deriva
tive of the 58,0001b-thrust
RB.211-524D4D with the
diameter of the wide-chord
fan increased by 6-8in. The
maximum thrust possible
within the existing 86in fan
diameter is 60,0001b, says
R-R.
Within the next three to
four months R-R will
complete initial engineering
studies of the RB.211-700. If
development is launched, the
engine could enter airline
service in the early 1990s. As
it uses the existing D4D core,
development would involve
relatively low risk and cost,
says R-R.
The RB.211-524D4D will
enter airline service early in
1989 on the Boeing 747-400 of
Cathay Pacific and British
Airways.
Israeli officer
resigns
TEL AVIV
Israeli Air Force Col Aviem
Sela has resigned his post
as commander of Tel Nof
airbase after the USA embar
goed any official US contact
with him.
Col Sela was indicted in
Washington as a controller of
the convicted spy Jonathan
Pollard, a former US Navy
intelligence analyst now serv
ing a life sentence for passing
information to Israel. Col Sela
was under enormous pressure
to leave his post, which is
regarded as one of the best
IAF assignments.
Israeli Chief of Staff Gen
Moshe Levy and Defence
Minister Yizhak Rabin
approved Sela's move, and
the US Embassy in Israel
says that Sela's resignation
from the post "will clear
the atmosphere". Sela will not
be reappointed until all
Pollard investigations in the
USA and Israel are
completed.
Recent calls by the USA for
Israel to stop co-operating
with South Africa on arms
supply and military prog
rammes are, Flight under
stands, a direct result of
the Pollard case. Pollard is
said to have passed raw,
unedited reports on South
Africa to Israel, which then
passed them direct to
Pretoria. As the reports were
raw this allowed the South
African counter-intelligence
service to identify their
sources, and some US agents
might have been compro
mised as a result.
Atlas-Centaur
fails
CAPE CANAVERAL ~
A lightning strike may
have been responsible for
the loss of data and control
which resulted in the deliber
ate destruction of a $78
million Nasa Atlas-Centaur
launch vehicle and its $83
million US Navy Fltsatcom
F6 communications satellite
payload.
Atlas Centaur AC67 was
destroyed by a range safety
officer 51sec after liftoff from
Cape Canaveral on March 27.
The launch took place in
rainy and overcast conditions,
and observers reported seeing
lightning strike the launch
pad before lift-off. A board of
inquiry has convened, but
Nasa does not yet know
whether the launch of Fltsat
com F8, scheduled for June,
will be delayed.
Australia
takes A330/
A340 stake
TOULOUSE
With Qantas a likely launch
customer for Airbus Indus
trie's long-range, four-
engined A340 airliner, five
Australian companies have
signed an agreement covering
possible participation in the
A330/A340 programme.
Aerospace Technologies of
Australia, British Aerospace
(Australia), Dunlop Aviation,
Hawker de Havilland, and
Lucas Aerospace could take
up to 4 per cent of the
programme. Participation
would go beyond existing
subcontract work on the
A300, A310, and A320, giving
the companies research,
design, development, and
production responsibilities.
France seeks
EFA radar
share
PARIS
French equipment manu
facturers still hope to
participate on a small scale in
the four-nation European
Fighter Aircraft (EFA).
Jacques Savoyen,
Thomson-CSF senior vice-
president, says informal
discussions continue with
Ferranti on the French
company's possible partici
pation in the ECR-90 Euro
pean collaborative radar
proposed for EFA.
Ferranti declines to
comment on this, except to
say that the ECR-90 trans
mitter could use a Thomson
travelling wave tube. This is
likely to be the same device
under development for the
Thomson-CSF RDX radar
planned for France's Rafale
fighter.
Savoyen notes that, until
France pulled out of EFA in
mid-1985, Thomson-CSF had
a radar co-operation agree
ment with Ferranti, AEG of
Germany, Fiar of Italy, and
Inisel of Spain.
Ferranti and AEG submit
ted competing bids for the
EFA radar on March 18.
Hercules de-iced
After being covered by Antarctic snow drifts for 15 years, this US Navy Lockheed LC-130F
Hercules is being dug out and is to be flown back to the USA. The ski-Here was taking off from
an open snowfield some 700 n.m. from McMurdo Sound on December 4, 1971, when the pilot
aborted the take-off and made a hard landing on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. No one was
injured. When the aircraft was found again, only the top 3ft of the fin was showing above snow.
Lockheed and Navy engineers found it to be structurally sound and fit, requiring only six weeks
of preliminary repairs before it can be flown out. With only 14,000hr on the clock and a
15-year rest, the Hercules is only slightly used.
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 April 1987